signed and dated 1861 lower right; titled and dated on a gallery label on the reverse
13.25 × 18 in (33.7 × 45.7 cm) (oval)
(including Buyer's Premium)
Private Collection, Toronto
By descent to a Private Collection, Toronto
Galerie Alan Klinkhoff, Montreal
Private Collection, Ontario
This oil painting depicts a rural Quebec landscape, with a large wooden cross standing tall in the snow. Thousands of these ‘wayside crosses’ were erected throughout rural Quebec as early as 1534, when Jacques Cartier raised the first crosses in Canada to affirm his claim to the territory. Later, many explorers and missionaries followed suit, and the custom was subsequently passed on to the first settlers, who erected crosses upon opening new roads or staking land claims. The wayside cross, with a decorative rooster, is finely crafted and stands as a symbol of the influence of the church in rural Quebec at the time. Signed and dated 1861, the canvas, A Trip to Town, marks another stage in the evolution of this type of genre scene, integrating additional elements that have become characteristic of Krieghoff's repertoire.
This vast panorama depicted here suggests the Quebec Laurentians, a region the artist knew and frequented as a sportsman. A farmhouse sitting solidly in the distant upper left contrasts with the horse and sleigh, which are the dynamic focus of the composition. The little horse pulls hard to advance the sleigh through the heavy snow, encouraged by the driver to speedily deliver passengers to their destination, and out of this chilly weather.
